Sunderland midfielder Jason McAteer last night gave the Black Cats his vote of confidence and insisted: "It's just like playing for Liverpool."

Sunderland midfielder Jason McAteer last night gave the Black Cats his vote of confidence and insisted: "It's just like playing for Liverpool."

And the former Anfield star is hoping for a change of fortunes at Filbert Street this afternoon, as the Wearsiders aim to build on last weekend's confidence-boosting draw with Arsenal.

McAteer ended his last trip to Leicester with an 86th-minute red card as Liverpool crashed 1-0 at the home of the Foxes three years ago.

The 30-year-old is keen to make up for that by steering the Black Cats to their first win since his arrival from Blackburn last month.

And, after describing the Wearside club as Liverpool MkII, the Republic of Ireland international is confident of breaking his Sunderland duck this afternoon in his third game in a red-and-white shirt.

"It's very much like being at Liverpool, being here," said McAteer, who spent three-and-a-half years with his home-town club before leaving for Ewood Park. "The way things are run and the way things are and the way the lads act is very much the same.

"When I was at Liverpool there was a group of lads who would go for dinner after training and stuff and it's similar here. I feel it's that kind of scenario again and I'm very much at home."

Linking up with fellow Merseysider Peter Reid has certainly helped.

And the Sunderland manager's partnership with assistant boss Bobby Saxton has all the hallmarks of an Anfield boot-room double-act, according to McAteer.

"Peter Reid is absolutely fantastic, he's a fantastic person to work for, as is Bobby Saxton," he said. "I find that he (Saxton) is Ronnie Moran II, I think they are the same person actually - he's just come up here.

"They are very much alike, the way they think, the way they talk and the way they act - their mannerisms are the same.

"The backgrounds are very much the same between Liverpool and the North-East, the people love their football and there's the same kind of sense of humour, so I'm enjoying it again."

McAteer, who is part of the Irish squad preparing to travel to Iran on World Cup duty, will be away from Wearside for the best part of two weeks, with Reid hoping he will be available for the clash with Leeds on November 18.

It is a wish shared by the midfielder, who was overwhelmed by the fans at the Stadium of Light when he made his home debut against Arsenal seven days ago. "With being a Liverpool fan it's an unbelievable experience to run out at the Kop, you run out to You'll Never Walk Alone and the hairs stand up on the back of your neck," he said.

"Then you come to this crowd with a lot more people and it's a lot louder and it's a different feeling - they both get you up for the game - the Sunderland fans are terribly loud."

After finding himself out of the first-team picture at Blackburn, McAteer is just delighted to be back in regular action in the Premiership.

And, with Leicester rooted to the bottom of the table with just one league win all season, he believes that today is the day for his first taste of Wearside success.

"If we pick three points up there we move a lot of places up the table - if we get a result at Leicester and the other results go for us we could be up in the top half easily. There's a lot of football to be played.

"They always seemed to be our bogey team at Liverpool but, having said that, I've had some success there.

"Their ship is rocky at the moment and that can be a disadvantage for us, but we're ready to do a job there."